I have an old straight-frame (rear steer) Michigan 280 wheel dozer that I use around my place. If I can figure out how, I will post a link to a YouTube video of it later. I know they made a 180, 280, 380, & a 480 version. I wonder if there are any of the 480's still around, or if they were all scrapped? If anyone on here has any pictures of one I would love to see them.
Couple of pictures of the old girl.
And a video, if I can do this right. YouTube - Cleaning up a skid road with my wheel dozer.
A place I worked for out in Socal had one I don't remember if it was a 380 or 480. I ran one of the 2 380Bs (articulating) they had.
There used to be a 380 sitting off the I-90 right of way just east of Buffalo, Wyoming for years and years. But it was gone when I was thorough there last summer. Best places to find these old beasts are coal fired power plant graveyards. Also steel mills, anywhere big stockpiles of coal or other materials had to be shaped up and compacted. I've run the 280 articulated and the 380 articulated, never got a chance to operate a 480.
That is so cool!!!!!!!!!!
I have a couple more video's of it on YouTube. You can just search for ClawedBackster to find them.
That Detroit sounds healthy.I love that sound!!!.....for a while ).Ron G
I agree Ron, I have downloaded it to my GM file so that when they are all gone, I will be able to remember what they did sound like. The extra noise is nothing that a good set of earmuffs won't fix. Clawed's machine sounds really nice coming up through the trees. Rn'R.
love all that clatter!
Like the pictures of the Old Girl, Don't know if the young girl should be riding on it tho!
Thanks for all the kind words guys. I have a lot of fun on the old machine, but I suppose it would be a different story if I had to run it everyday to make a living. So far, I haven't been able to afford enough diesel to get tired of the music she makes. It is very difficult to do accurate finish work with it, but I think that is part of the enjoyment. No sense of accomplishment in doing something that is easy.
We have old ugly 262 Cummins 280 We have an ugly 1950's 280 that still comes to life on demand despite decades of abuse and numerous uncorrected mechanical defects. It was instrumental in loading out an Erie B steam shovel some years back. Afraid to drive it even lately because of frame cracking that has it hanging together by a thread now. The turbo has never turbo'ed, the tires may be beyond regrooving, a head gasket leaks and the horn don't blow and a blade pitch line blew and was plugged or squirts I forgot and oil leaks everywhere and... LOL Went blade to blade with a 3T series D7 because no one would believe me it was like apples and oranges... I said at least to give 'em a sportin' chance I'd let them get under and lift up on me and get going full throttle in low pushing me backwards...and everyone was hooting and hollering ...I stepped on the throttle and it stopped the old 7 dead instantly and ran the engine backwards before the operator could throw the clutch out and blew oil out the air cleaner all over the deck! Then they got the idea of what I meant when I said apples and oranges (15 ton vs 25+ ton) One weird problem we have encountered is for some reason field mice seem to make a home in the starter nose. The first few starts are okay until it packs enough of their nest into the bendix end until the pinion won't engage, necessitating starter removal and cleaning it out. Also rodents have chewed rubber off all over the poor machine! Ah, nothing like the old "blue sky machinery shed" we have to keep most of our toys in. Larry
Recently bought an old Galion grader to go with the Michigan. Now I can smooth out the messes I make with the dozer.
I hope you had earplugs in! Great Video.
another one Something we have laying around the dairy
The forerunner to the modern day 'skidsteer' loader.
rear aixle steers .
Hey Quackattak, that is a really nice looking dozer you have there. Thanks for posting the pictures. I see that you also are in Oregon. What part? As a coincidence, I saw a Michigan 380 of similar vintage headed north on I-5 just this morning. I am pretty sure it was the same one I tried to buy at an auction a couple of years ago.
I am over by hermiston, the dozer is a 280c. We were using it to break up some hard ground for our reynolds scraper. Just bought a D6C with a ripper to try out this year. The Michigan runs good just don't have much use for it.
Great Video - love the old equipment. Nice condition for an old wheel dozer.
480 michigan Claude , Back in the early 1970's R.G. Watkins and son from Amesbury Mass had a few Michigan pushers. They had a 480 that Arthur Watkins ran working on Interstate 93. You could dump DM 600 mack loads of sand or gravel tight in a line for 100 yards or so, Old A.K. would level that material out so fast he would run his windshield wipers to keep the sand from splashing on his windshield!!!!! that old 16-71 detroit was just a screaming !!!!!! Don
Welcome to the Forums loggah!:drinkup
CM1995, Been Reading a lot ,hanging around,really like the old iron storys ,since i was around it. thanks for the welcome. Don
I don't recall ever seeing one of these in use, the closest I can think of are the steel-wheeled units at the dump for compacting garbage....?
Hey Loggah, thanks for posting. I have never seen anything but pictures of 480's. Kinda neat to hear from someone who actually got to see them in action. I would LOVE to find one to tinker with, but I would bet that they were all scrapped long ago.
Clawed,I don't know what happened to the 480,but i think Jimmy Watkins, Midway construction still has a 280 and 380. i was a bit partial to Michigans as i used to own a 275B loader the were a tough machine also. Don
There are a couple of old promotional videos about the Michigan 675 loader on Youtube. Really cool for anyone who enjoys old equipment.
I remember helping to build a 675 24 yard bucket in the Clark engineering lab in Benton Harbor, Mi. had to lay it out across 3 set up tables. Pretty tricky rolling it over to weld, weighed 20 tons.
Those old 675's were amazingly large machines. Seem really under powered and slow though. I read about one that some mining outfit had. They said that it was constantly breaking down, and spent most of it's time being repaired. Definitely on my list o' stuff to get when Bill Gates adopts me.
That's a fine piece of history you own there, my buddy!!!Take good care of it and give it the respect it desserves!!! Max.
Just a bump for the noobs who may not have seen this. Still have it, still runs excellent.
Nice machine, I think they were used around here in dumps to push the mountains of trash around. The Detroit sounds great, I didn't expect the machine to have air brakes.
I recently came across a video on YouTube of a heavy haul done in the 70's. Huge load, with several machines pulling and pushing. Some of the machines they used appear to be old straight frame Michigan wheel dozers with the blades removed. I can't tell which model they are, but they look big. Probably 380 or 480. I will see if I can link to the video.
think the u tube covers a part of a tva project back then
Nothing like a 318(8v71) and straight stacks!!
Great vids, even the machinery in the vids, but truth is this plant never went online. 39 years later. Phipps Bend TVA.
MAN, THIS THREAD IS OLD! Yeah, I still have the old thing. And yeah, it still runs great! BTW, that little girl sitting beside me in that first video in this thread is my youngest daughter, and she is now 21 years old.
Especially when it's about 10 revolutions from exploding.
Hardly ever gets exercised, but still runs great.